Catholic Schools Inspection 2026
We are delighted to share with you the outcome of our recent Catholic Schools Inspectorate (CSI) inspection, which took place on 30 April – 1 May 2026.
I am incredibly proud to report that Holy Cross Preparatory School has been judged Outstanding (Grade 1) in all areas inspected, including Catholic life and mission, religious education and collective worship. This is a wonderful affirmation of our shared commitment to nurturing a vibrant, faith-filled community.
The inspectors recognised many significant strengths of our school, including:
• The way in which our Catholic mission and the Holy Cross charism are lived daily by pupils and staff
• Pupils’ outstanding understanding and application of Gospel values and Catholic social teaching
• Exceptional chaplaincy and pastoral care that support the spiritual and personal development of every child
• Inspirational and highly effective leadership, ensuring consistency and continuous improvement
• Highly effective religious education, with strong teaching, curriculum design and excellent pupil outcomes
• Rich, inclusive and meaningful prayer and liturgy at the heart of school life
We were especially pleased that inspectors highlighted our pupils as confident, reflective and compassionate individuals who genuinely live out their faith in practical ways.
As with any inspection, there are also areas identified for further development. These include:
• Extending our impact by sharing our strong practice with the wider educational community (for example sharing good practice with others in the Diocese).
• Further enriching pupils’ understanding of Catholic social teaching through more structured opportunities and recognised Church frameworks (for example applying for validation of service to others via the Romero Award).
We welcome these recommendations and during the inspection reflected with inspectors on how best to take this work forward (see brackets above). We would encourage you to read the report, as it captures beautifully the life of our school community. This achievement belongs to all of us, staff, pupils, trustees and families, and reflects the strength of our shared mission.
Sarah Hair, Headteacher.
ISI Report November 2023
Under the new framework for independent schools effective from September 2023, our school had a routine inspection by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) between Tuesday 28 – Thursday 30 November 2023. This was a very thorough inspection over three days, with four highly experienced inspectors and one shadow inspector in school, reviewing all aspects of school life in depth.
The report covers four sections and safeguarding:
Section 1: Leadership and management, and governance
Section 2: Quality of pupils’ education, training and recreation
Section 3: Pupils’ physical and mental health and emotional wellbeing
Section 4: Pupils’ social and economic education, and contribution to society
Safeguarding
I am very pleased to advise that the school was found to have met all the standards in every section.
The report is written in clear and unambiguous language. ISI will now provide nuanced evaluations: there will no longer be overall judgements / grades. The report begins with a summary of findings and then more detail within the report for each section. The inspection report is very much evidence based and will reflect what inspectors saw, read, heard and noticed as part of the inspection. Evaluation was resulted from careful consideration of the inspection evidence.
I am delighted, on behalf of the whole school community (parents, pupils, staff, and trustees), for this external validation of our work.
Sarah Hair, Headteacher.